A home cooking appliance, such as a freestanding oven or built-in oven, commonly includes a door coupled to the appliance housing by two or more hinges such that the door can move between a closed position for sealing items to be cooked within the cooking cavity and an open position for placing items to be cooked into the cooking cavity or removing items from the cooking cavity.
One type of home cooking appliance commonly includes a door that swings vertically about the hinges such that, when the oven door is in the open position, the door extends horizontally outward from a lower end of the oven in front of the cooking cavity. Since the door swings vertically and outward over the lower part of the oven, the door in this conventional arrangement is not at risk of interfering with adjacent cabinetry or appliances. As a result, a variety of types and sizes of hinges can be used to provide a necessary amount of closing force on the door to maintain the door in the closed position and provide a suitable seal of the door seal around the opening of the cooking cavity without interfering with adjacent cabinetry or appliances.
Another type of home cooking appliance may include a side swing door that swings laterally about the hinges such that, when the oven door is in the open position, the door extends vertically outward from one side of the oven such that the door is positioned to the side of the cooking cavity. A side swing door may provide greater access to the cooking cavity from directly in front of the appliance, which may be helpful for placing large or heavy items into the cooking cavity or removing such large or heavy items from the cooking cavity. With a side swing door, a user also does not need to reach over the hot surface of the interior side of the oven door to place items into the cooking cavity or to remove items from the cooking cavity. However, since the door swings laterally away from the cooking cavity and is positioned alongside the cooking cavity when the door is in an open position, the operation of the door may be affected by, or interfered with by, adjacent cabinetry or appliances, or the door may interfere with the operation of one or more doors of such adjacent cabinetry or appliances. In addition, the door commonly is configured to be flush with any adjacent cabinetry or appliances. Due to the limited space available on the appliance housing, the conventional means for securing a vertical swing door to the appliance are not suitable for a side swing door and only a limited amount of different types of hinges can be used to secure the door without the door interfering with adjacent cabinetry or appliance.
Additionally, because of the limitations on the size and types of suitable hinges that can be used with a home cooking appliance having a side swing door, as well as various space limitations associated with such side swing doors, conventional home cooking appliances ordinarily must have an external part to keep the side swing door closed.